Preserving the Past
Studying the past begins with archives, those places where artifacts are gathered, stored, and preserved. Archives of manuscripts, in particular, have stories of their own and often shape the way we understand the past just by the nature of their origins and how they have survived through the ages. Although major collections are now held in museums and preserved by professionals, a century or more ago, it was common for wealthy Western individuals to amass collections of antiquities as prizes of their international exploits. Their acquisitions and archives remain today but have a thick layer of colonialism that must be considered. There were also non-Western individuals that tried to create collections to keep manuscripts in their place of origin and to preserve local cultural heritage. Two collectors, Claudius Rich—a wealthy early 19th century British orientalist, and Louis Cheikho, a late 19th century Turkish Jesuit priest in Lebanon—had contrasting interests and motivations for amassing their collections of ancient Syriac manuscripts. Our guest today Maroun El Houkayem will share the insights of his fascinating work on these two men and the ethical issues their archives raise for how we study antiquity.
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